Reader’s Diary

Jeff Cavins

Jeff Cavins was “raised Catholic” and, like so many young Catholics in the 70s, left the Church. He became an evangelical Christian and eventually a Protestant pastor. As he worked to be a good minister, he realized that the things he was trying to bring to his congregations were things the Catholic Church has had all along: authority, sacraments, and liturgy.

Jeff recounts the personal struggle, with himself and with his family, over his journey home to Rome. This is an inspiring and motivating book, for non-practicing Catholics and, especially, for lukewarm Catholics. It’s humorous and serious, an easy read with a deep message: the truly Biblical church, the church that Christ established, is the Catholic Church.

Andrew Dennis, Eric Flint

Flint continues his series about a West Virginia town dumped into the middle of the Thirty Year’s War with a tale of a misguided attempt to rescue Galileo. Flint’s alternate history is intrinsically fascinating, but that’s about all that keeps things moving for the first two thirds of the book. The story is over almost before the plot hits its stride. Fans of the series will enjoy “1634″ in spite of the flaws , but I hope future books in the series are a bit more lively.

Peter Applebome

This is a funny and warm-hearted account of a indoorsman father lured into scouting by his outdoors-infatuated son. In addition to the humor, which is reminiscent of Bill Bryson’s, Applebome provides some scouting history and insightful reflections on the place of scouting in twenty-first century America.

Bruce Sterling

After a strong start, Sterling’s attempt at a thriller falls on it’s face. The main character, a dot com millionaire computer security whiz, is interesting, but Sterling doesn’t have him do anything interesting or believable.

Larry Bond, James Defelice

Larry Bond laid an egg with this one. It’s a not very thrilling thriller about a special ops team called - wait for it: “The Team”. The characters aren’t very interesting, the bad guy not very scary, and the plot is illogical in the extreme. Bond has shown that he’s capable of much better work; this is a big disappointment